GERMANY: German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier apologises on the anniversary of the ‘Warsaw Ghetto Uprising’. He is the first German president to address commemorations in Poland and pleaded for pardon for the atrocities committed during World War II. He spoke to remember 80 years of Jewish insurrectionists against Nazi occupiers.
Steinmeier pleaded for forgiveness and chastised Vladimir Putin for his illegal attack on Ukraine. He also condemned the war, which was violent, destructive, and deadly. The Monument to the Ghetto Heroes served as the location of the ceremonial event.
On April 19, 1943, the Jews of Warsaw began an armed uprising against the Nazis, stating they would rather fight to the death than be deported to a concentration camp.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog remarked that “absolute evil existed in the form of Nazis and their allies”. He also added that “absolute good existed in the form of victims and the rebels from every nation”.
The uprising in the ghetto ended in suicide, and survivor Halina Birenbaum, 93, stated that even if they couldn’t win, they had to injure them. Church bells and sirens rang out throughout Warsaw on Wednesday as volunteers distributed paper flowers for locals to attach to their clothing.
The custom is in memory of Marek Edelman, a key figure in the uprising, who observed the occasion by leaving daffodils at his memorial. This year, paper daffodils are also being distributed in other Polish cities.
A year after their 1939 invasion of Poland, the Nazis established the ghetto in an area of just under three square kilometres (1.2 square miles). It was the largest ghetto from the Second World War.
The majority of the survivors were taken to the Treblinka concentration camp east of Warsaw, where many Jews perished from sickness and malnutrition.
About 50,000 residents were hunkered down in the ghetto at the start of the rebellion in cellars and bunkers. Extremely brutally putting down the uprising, the Nazis set fire to the entire neighbourhood, reducing it to ashes and debris.
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